Month: October 2018

The dollar steadied on Monday after posting its biggest weekly drop in two months last week as investors grew cautious about the near term outlook for the greenback after dovish comments by U.S. policymakers.

Against a basket of its rivals, the greenback was broadly steady at 96.48 after falling nearly half a percent last week, its biggest weekly drop since late September.

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The dollar has been the surprise winner of 2018, having risen nearly 10 percent from April lows thanks to a combination of interest rate hikes and strong data. But the growing view that U.S. economic growth may have peaked has begun to eat away at these gains.

“Dovish Fed comments on Friday gave some encouragement to investors to take profits on dollar positions which have risen in recent weeks,” said Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank based in London.

Richard Clarida, the Fed’s newly appointed vice chair, cautioned about a slowdown in global growth, saying “that’s something that is going to be relevant” for the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan, in a separate interview with Fox Business, also said he is seeing a growth slowdown in Europe and China.

Their comments come at a time when long dollar positions have swelled to their biggest levels in nearly two years despite a modest decline last week, according to futures data.

Latest U.S. Treasury holdings data also weighed on the dollar. China and Japan, the two biggest foreign U.S. creditors, cut their U.S. Treasury holdings further in September as foreign appetite for Treasuries declined.

Despite the dollar’s weakness, the euro failed to rally significantly above the $1.14 levels as concerns over negotiations between Brussels and Rome over Italy’s budget plans sapped broader appetite. It was changing hands at $1.1422.

Elsewhere, sterling remained in the spotlight with the currency expected to remain under pressure until the market gets more clarity on the progress of the Brexit deal.

It was 0.2 percent firmer against the dollar at $1.2864 after a 1 percent drop last week as British Prime Minister Theresa May’s draft EU divorce deal has met with stiff opposition with several ministers resigning.

Bitcoin sinks to new 13-month low

LONDON (Reuters) – Bitcoin slumped to a new 13-month low on Monday, with the biggest cryptocurrency touching $5173.23 on the Bitstamp platform BTC=BTSP.

Bitcoin was last down 5.2 percent at $5270. The cryptocurrency, and other lesser coins including ethereum and XRP, endured a sell-off last week, with some blaming fears that a “hard fork” in bitcoin cash, where the smaller coin that split into two separate currencies, could destabilize others.

Logano didn’t need to nudge defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. like he did to earn a spot among the Championship 4 last month. Logano just sped past Truex with 11 laps left in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 to claim both the race win and the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“It’s an amazing night,” Logano said. “I know what second felt like, and I know how much it stinks. I didn’t know what winning felt like, but it feels really, really good.”

Logano finished second to seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson in 2016 after a fourth-place finish in the finale two years ago and, before Sunday, Logano hadn’t finished any higher at this 1.5-mile track in nine previous starts.

Still, Logano declared himself the favorite after bumping Truex at Martinsville — even if he didn’t have a title like the other three Championship 4 drivers (Truex, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch). Those three also were each seeking a second Cup title.

“You can’t just be confident and say it because then it’s just kind of BS, right?” Logano said. “You have to believe it inside.

“When you put yourself in high-pressure situations, you find more out of yourself. I think that move at the end of the race shows it. You refuse to lose. You really do.”

he Championship 4 contenders were the class of the field at Homestead and finished 1-2-3-4. Truex held on for second; Harvick, the 2014 champion, came home third; and Busch, the 2015 champ, finished fourth.

Busch, after a couple of missteps earlier in the race, rebounded on the final pit stop as the leaders came in when Daniel Suarez was spun out with 20 laps left. Busch had been holding out for a yellow because he was on s different pit strategy than the leaders.

“I was optimistic about it but didn’t think it would be that short-lived,” Busch said. “I figured I could at least maybe lead three or four laps, but Martin got a good restart.”

Truex raced for the final time with Furniture Row Racing, which announced in September it would cease operations at season’s end. Truex will drive the No. 19 Toyota next year and team with Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing.

After he passed Busch on the final restart, it looked like Truex could send off the one-car Denver-based operation with another celebration before Logano made the pass with 11 laps left.

“Just didn’t play out the way we needed it to,” Truex said. “I had nothing for him at the end. I needed 15, 20 more laps, and that’s just the way it goes. I’m not sure what else to say.”

Logano said he was thinking Truex could get him back for Martinsville as he passed him.

“Well, you never know,” Logano said. “He raced me hard. He raced me the same way that I would have raced him. We ran each other hard and tried to, but there was nothing dirty.”

The first caution of the weekend not counting the yellow flags after stages came on lap 139 for debris. Neither Friday’s Camping World Truck Series nor Saturday’s Xfinity Series races had “natural” cautions.

The second came after Kyle Larson clipped the wall in turn 4 with 75 laps left. Larson was third at the time and led the most laps (45) than any driver not in the Championship 4.

Kyle Buch’s crew — one of the most dominant this season — had its second miscue of the race as the air gun got caught under the car during the caution for Larson. That cost Busch four spots. Earlier in the race, a tire changer dropped a lug nut.

Harvick raced minus his crew chief Rodney Childers and car chief Robert Smith, who were suspended for the final two races of the season after NASCAR found Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford had an illegal spoiler after a victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 4.